


You’ll always have me

by DetReed900



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Gavin Reed, Case Fic, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, GV900 - Freeform, Gavin Reed - Freeform, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Good Friend Tina Chen, Human Upgraded Connor | RK900, M/M, Nines has cats, Partners to Lovers, RK900 - Freeform, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2020-06-24 00:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19712530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DetReed900/pseuds/DetReed900
Summary: GV900 who goes by Gavin, is the most advance android got partnered with Detective Stern- a hard working Detective, who thought he worked best alone.GV has some problems deviating, but it seems that getting partnered with Richard (Nines) Stern is what will help him through with (with love)————————————Each precinct is known for having an agitator, and for the DPD it was Gavin, a GV900, the latest and most advance android Cyberlife have ever created. He was known for working whenever he felt like it, which in itself was ironic because he was not a deviant, he was experiencing software instabilities, but wasn’t able to break through his coding yet. As good as he was at his job, he always found a way to vex the other officers, especially when he works on cases they did not require help with. As hard it is to believe, he only made two friends in the precinct, Tina Chen and Chris Miller.After so many filed reports, mountain of them, Fowler have decided it was time to partner the GV900 up with someone, and he knew exactly who he’ll partner him with.





	1. Chapter 1

Each precinct is known for having an agitator, and for the DPD it was Gavin, a GV900, the latest and most advance android Cyberlife have ever created. He was known for working whenever he felt like it, which in itself was ironic because he was not a deviant, he was experiencing software instabilities, but wasn’t able to break through his coding yet. As good as he was at his job, he always found a way to vex the other officers, especially when he works on cases they did not require help with. As hard it is to believe, he only made two friends in the precinct, Tina Chen and Chris Miller.

After so many filed reports, mountain of them, Fowler have decided it was time to partner the GV900 up with someone, and he knew exactly who he’ll partner him with. 

—————————————

"You have got to be kidding me, Jeffery-" 

"I will not hear about it, Detective Stern." Fowler said irritated by the use of his first name. 

"I will not stand here and allow you to partner me up with that tin can, come on Fowler you know I work best alone" Richard tried, not only did he get a partner he got the DPD’s pain in the ass android as a partner. The GV900 known as Gavin was bash, reckless, he barely listen to orders, sure he gets results when they were needed but it was a nightmare working with him. The reason why he didn’t get any partners since he arrived to the precinct, that aside of course his quirks, which included drinking coffee with thirium for whatever reason. The bastards usually would make it his mission to drain the coffee machine by the time Richard had to get his coffee. 

"This is not up for negotiation. You will take the GV as your partner, you two could probably learn from each other." The captain’s voice was firm, he will not accept any complains. "You’re dismissed, Stern"

"Captain if you will allow me to explain, Gavin isn’t the one up for the teamwork-"

"Neither are you, which is why I think you two should settle in quite nicely, learn to work as a team." Fowler then turned his attention to his terminal, as a sign that the conversation is over.  
—————————————

Gavin was sitting in Stern’s chair, as he heard the whole conversation thanks to his advance audio processor, and grinned mischievously as he saw the Detective make his way to the desk which Gavin was seated at, feet impudently propped up on the desk over all the files, a mug of coffee and thirium resting near by.

"Off" 

Gavin continue to hum, giving Richard no mind, one foot swaying. He sure knew how to get under people’s skin. 

"Off" This time however, Richard pushed Gavin’s feet off of his desk truculently. 

Gavin hissed, like a full on hiss- like a cat. "Nice to see you too, partner" he said instead of spitting out an insult, knowing how much it will irk the detective. 

Richard waited silently for the android to leave his seat. 

"Are commands all you can sprout out of your big mouth, Nines?" Gavin quipped, but got off of the human’s chair nonetheless, only to perch himself on the desk instead. The detective sat down and begun to work on his terminal still silent, which drew a frown on Gavin’s lips. What was his problem? Was it cause Gavin used Richard’s nickname? Nines? It’s was only exclusively used by his close friends which, funny enough included Tina and Chris. 

"I have sent the cases we are currently working on to your terminal, read through them and get to work" Richard said flatly as he gestured to the empty desk that was facing his. 

Gavin groaned, that was a direct order, or his software took it as such. He strode to the desk and placed his hand on his terminal, skin peeling off showing his stark white chassis, as he ‘reads’ through the case files, and removed his hand a minute later. One of the cases involved a murder of a human by an android, or the evidence pointed to that result, but further investigation is needed. 

Gavin went over the evidence again, something isn’t making sense, the evidence is off, and he kept getting a pop up that reads: ‘further investigation is needed’, with another loud grunt, he turned to the detective. "Detective Stern, the evidence is not enough to construct an opinion"

Nines looked up at Gavin, amused at how professional the android is right now. "The crime scene is still under observation we could go and give it a look, maybe we’ll find something there"

So that’s how Gavin found himself seating in a classic car that has been upgraded with the latest technology, but kept it’s nice vintage elements. His curiosity got the better of him, and he scanned the car from the inside. He found old case files in the back seat, placed neatly into a pile, along with an extra (leather)jacket, hanged by the door. There were empty coffee cups in the cup holders and few CD covers on the dashboard along with a few Polaroid of two cats. In fact now that he scanned his partner properly he can see cat hair all over his coat. 

His partner was quiet for most of the trip to the crime scene, but guess that the detective isn’t as talkative. Gavin grabbed one of the cats Polaroid and stared at it. He found cats really cute. When he wasn’t doing anything he would often find himself watching cat videos, which he loved to share with Tina mainly because he doesn’t have anyone else to share them with and Tina didn’t mind. 

"Are those yours?" Gavin asked before his mind even thought of the question.

"What?" Nines turned to look at what the android was talking about, and saw the Polaroid. It took him a moment too long to answer, "Yeah, those are my cats. The bengal is Lexi and the Ragdoll is Perla"

"Purr-la?" The amusement in Gavin’s voice must have taken the detective by surprise. Cause he blinked rapidly at Gavin and Gavin stifled an amused noise that almost escaped him. 

"I suppose you could say that, yes. I sometimes call her Perl" Nines faced the road, although his car is automatic, he still would rather drive it himself.

"Don’t you mean Purr-l?" A grin played on Gavin’s face, as he puts the Polaroid back where he found it. 

The detective did not look amused, but he didn’t look angry either, so Gavin took that as a win anyway. 

The ‘crime scene’ was a deserted street a little outside the center of Detroit. The hologram police tape were still up. 

Gavin stepped out of the classic car and approached the holographic tapes, as he scanned the place. Most of the evidence, the portable ones have been moved, there isn’t much to look at, however there is stains of dried thirium. "There are drops of thirium, I can’t analyze it when it has already evaporated"

The detective hummed and kneeled by where Gavin was pointing, "According to the report, there haven’t been any thirium evidence. So that indicates to an android involvement"

Gavin frowns, he can’t tell if the thirium was fresh- like from a thirium bag or was from an android. "Okay listen meatbag, that doesn’t mean shit till we find more evidence" 

The crime scene provided them barely any evidence, the prep is still unknown, the reasoning is unknown and the human that was found dead seems to be one of the anti-android groups that have been found before the revolution. Which still did not give them much evidence or any leads. 

"The victim was beaten to death, no weapon is located, and there is dried thirium but nothing else" Gavin recapped and he circled the spot where the victim was found. There is something that they are missing. 

"Could she have been attacked by more than one prep?" Nines asked, he seems to be pondering. Then he looked around, searching for something, when his eyes landed on the cameras. "What about the public surveillance?" 

"Got it" Gavin hacked into the cameras and quickly checked the footage, it took a minute before he pulled the right one, and- Nines was right, there was more than one prep. However from the angle the camera was placed he couldn’t tell if they were androids or not, he’ll have to review the footage and study it before he can tell for sure. "Look at that, the meatbag was right, there were more than one person."

Nines hummed noncommittal, "Send the footage to my email. Did you recognize any of the attackers?"

"I’m working on it, disphit!" Gavin snapped as he review the footage again, slowing it down and zooming it. Shit, they were androids, and he knows that the human would look smug about it. 

The human kept giving him a look, while patiently waiting for Gavin to finish reviewing the footage.

"They were all fucking androids" Gavin said under his breath, annoyedly, he didn’t miss the look on Nines face, but he was surprised that smugness wasn’t among them. 

"I was able to identify their model numbers, SK400, UI500 and JF300" Gavin continued, "They are all models that worked in factories" 

Nines hummed again, pulling out a small notebook, wrote down few information in a neat handwriting then slipped it back in his coat. "We know what kind of models they are, now all we have to do is find them." Which Gavin thought might be easier said than done as there are so many androids of the same model number, but with the footage they have they could narrow it down.

With that the pair headed back to the precinct to enter the evidence they had, then took a closer look at the footage for more clues. Gavin have retreated to the break room a few times to fill his cup with a mixture of coffee and thirium, but not once have he thought of bring the detective one- a cup of coffee not the weird coffee that Gavin drinks.

"Get it yourself, prick" Gavin spat, when the detective asked for one, while stationed on the detective’s desk, his new favorite spot it seems, and Gavin will not take any comments about it, not unless it was a direct order to get off, in which he always seemed to hiss and scowl. 

Gavin watched the detective clocked out when both their shift is over. He usually stayed at the precinct. He was not a deviant so he did not require a place of his own, he was still paid of course, all androids are being paid whether they were deviants or not, it was the law.. but not all androids have to get their own place, they could stay in the department if they wish to do so, and most androids did get their own place. Gavin however did not. He didn’t see the point of it, and even if he did, his programming prevented him from doing so, so at the department he stays. Usually he would stroll around, finish any case files he has, or sometimes he would feed the cat that sometimes comes behind the building looking for food. 

He rest himself in one of the charging stations till the next morning, he will go into stasis till before his partnered showed up. 

When he came out of stasis, he had time to make himself a cup of coffee before his partnered showed up. There is something about the human that made Gavin stare. Nines looked tired, as if he barely had any sleep, and a scan confirmed that. 

"Morning shithead" Gavin greeted his partnered with a small upturn to his lips, which his partner didn’t return, but instead he received a sigh, as the detective settles himself on his desk.

"Wow you sure look like shit today"

"Well I’m glad to know that you don’t think I look like shit everyday"

Gavin let out a breathless laugh, but wasn’t sure of how to respond to that, he was, for the first time, speechless. The detective knew he was good looking, the fucking bastard. "Coffee?" 

Nines looked up at him suspiciously, "Your weird thirium infused coffee?" But at the same time, the detective seems intrigued, like he wanted to try the monstrosity that is Gavin’s coffee. 

Gavin didn’t say anything for a while, then raised his cup for Nines to take. 

The human halted, cup close to his lips, giving the android a look with those icy blue eyes that made Gavin shudder. 

"Is it safe?" 

"It won’t kill you if you took one sip, Disphit" Gavin said with no heat, he was just as intrigued as the detective about this.

Nines took a sip, then almost immediately let out a choked breath, coughing slightly, then furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh- crap haven’t expected it to have such a.. strong taste" 

Weirdly enough the detective seemed calm, his body relaxed a bit, even gave Gavin a small upturn to his lips that could almost be considered as a small smile. 

A software instability has flared up his vision, this time, it seemed stronger than any that he have ever received.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The detective hummed, asked no question, but stood over the body, studying it with his eyes, while rubbing in his smooth yet strong chin. Musing the scene before him, trying piece this crime together. When he couldn’t think of anything he turned to his android "Let’s go" 
> 
> "Just like that?" Gavin inquired as he trailed behind the detective, "There must be something in there that would help us solve this! What, cause she’s an android it doesn’t matter?"

Gavin stood by his terminal uploading some data as his human partner was reviewing a report. This is their second day as partners, and Gavin couldn’t stop glancing at him, the detective’s eyes filled with curiosity, he was usually calm and stoic, serious and intimidating, yet he had this thing about him. Sure he observed the detective before, he saw how good he was at his job- actually that is an understatement, he was beyond perfect at his job, he worked almost as fast as an android. Gavin have never really struck up a conversation with the detective, not really, the taunting he did hardly counted as a real conversation, he heard a lot about Nines from Tina and even Chris and to say he wasn’t even slightly intrigued would be a lie.

He slumped down on his chair, propping his feet on his desk after finishing his task, and his HUD is now clear of any task or at least important or urgent ones. Gavin had a cup of plain thirium on his desk as well as a donut, he knows he shouldn’t be eating human food, not unless it was made especially for androids, but he enjoyed the taste, so fuck whoever said androids can’t eat human food.

"You’re done with your work?" The detective spoke in a calm, deep voice that almost flared another software instability. 

"What’s it to you, asshole?" The GV wasn’t exactly created to be sociable then again he wasn’t made to be a rude asshole either. 

"If you are goofing around then that must mean that you have finished your work. We’ve got a crime scene to head to, so unless you want to get there by foot you better hurry up" 

Gavin huffed impatiently, but stood up, arms crossed as he followed Nines out of the building and into the detective’s car. The crime scene they arrived to was an old storage building. He tries to scan what he can from outside, the information that popped up wasn’t necessary useful to their case. 

"An android was found in here" Nines said, and Gavin wasn’t necessarily paying attention, he already has the file and have reviewed it prior to their arrival. He kept scanning the place as they moved forward into the building. Nothing seems to be odd.. well of course besides the body that was laying in a big pool of blue blood. The android, Gavin scanned, is an UL400 another type of the working androids mostly those found fixing streets or roads. 

"UL400, goes by the name Camilla, she’s a deviant, at least the records states she is" Gavin kneeled by the body to analyze it further. It’s clear that she has been beaten until she shut down. He can’t determine what she was beaten up with though, something metal but his reconstruction doesn’t tell him and there is no evidence of what it might have been. GV stood up and looked around some more, when he couldn’t find anything, he went to report to the detective. 

The detective hummed, asked no question, but stood over the body, studying it with his eyes, while rubbing in his smooth yet strong chin. Musing the scene before him, trying piece this crime together. When he couldn’t think of anything he turned to his android "Let’s go" 

"Just like that?" Gavin inquired as he trailed behind the detective, "There must be something in there that would help us solve this! What, cause she’s an android it doesn’t matter?" 

Nines halted and whipped around, GV thought that the detective would be upset, but he wasn’t, further from, he had a calm expression on his face "It won’t help to stay in the crime scene and do nothing. We’ll review what we know in the precinct, so get in the car, Gavin" 

Gavin huffed in response but compiled and headed to the car, LED spinning a bright yellow as he thinks. He got into the passenger seat and said nothing. 

The detective seems weirdly calm, or he is simply pondering the case as they drove back to the precinct. 

—————————————

The detective begun collecting his belongings, most probably ready to head home when their shift was over. Gavin remained seated on his desk, staring at his human partner. Of course Gavin was offered an apartment by the DPD, but as a non-deviant android he didn’t think he need one. He was a deviant in the sense of he thought for himself, and acted like a deviant, but he was still stuck behind the red wall. He couldn’t get through it no matter how many strong blows or kicks he gave at it, it never budged. Well, it cracked, but that was about it. He was stuck, because Cyberfucks have decided to give him a stronger wall to ensure that he wouldn’t go deviant just before the whole revolution took place, and now that androids are free, he.. felt envious of all the android that managed to break through their coding while he stood there and watched. He was still bounded to his coding, and had to follow orders even if he didn’t want to. Fortunately for him, the detective didn’t seem like he would take advantage of his lack of deviancy. Sure he would demand he did his work, but that was about it. 

As he looked up again he saw the detective reluctantly standing in the space between their desks, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure of it. Then he simply said "Have a good evening" and left toward the exits. Gavin blinked in confusion, as he was still trailing Nines with his eyes, and notice the subtle head turn before the human left the building. 

With not much to do, Gavin took to strolling around the bullpen, curious to see if he would see anything new, he also went to the back with a plastic bowl with cat food in it, and called the stray cat that sometimes came. He placed the bowl down when the cat didn’t show up, and frowned as he walked in. That reminded him of the two cats the detective had, and he had the urge to meet those two, that thought itself have flared another software instability, similar ones that he gets usually, not nearly as strong as the one he had yesterday. 

When he came out of stasis, Gavin haven’t realized that some officers have started clocking in. His gaze shifted to his partner’s desk, it was still empty, he sighs, in almost relief that he hadn’t ‘overslept’. He looked up just in time to witness his partner strides in, giving him a look he couldn’t quite read. 

Gavin failed to notice that Nines has two of what seems to be coffee takeaway cups, which he sets one on the GV’s desk. "Don’t you ever leave the building?"

Gavin’s LED blinked yellow for a moment or two, then shrugged reluctantly. "There isn’t a need for me to leave, I have charging station and free coffee" his humor sounded dry even to him, he can’t leave, primely because of his coding preventing him from doing so. Cracks continued to appear on the wall with every software instability, but none of them was strong enough to break through the red fucking wall. 

The detective hummed thoughtfully but didn’t comment any further, but simply took his seat, and took a sip of what Gavin recognized as tea. He looked down at his own cup, he can smell the coffee and thiruim from where he is standing. A satisfied sound involuntarily left his throat as he gulped down his thiruim coffee. 

They worked quietly on some reports till it was the detective’s lunch break. From what he observed, the detective has a tendency of skipping his breaks in favor of finishing more work, the stupid workaholic prick. "It’s your lunch break detective. Mine too, so if you’d stop jamming the stupid keyboard then I might have to stop you myself"

The icy blue eyes turned to him, sending shivers down his back. To his surprise, the detective pushed away from his desk, and stood up. Gavin did too, assuming that the detective would make his way to the break room like he typically does. But he halted when Nines grabbed his coat and draped it over his shoulder. Was the detective eating outside today? GV continued to stare dumbly at his human, unsure of what to do. Over the last two days they had their breaks together- well the detective would be eating while Gavin hovers around him.

Halfway toward the exit, Nines turned around giving his android a questioning look. "Aren’t you coming, Gavin?" 

——————————

The place that the detective picked for his lunch break is odd, to say the least. 

"A cat cafe?" Gavin inquired with a hint of disbelief in his voice. 

The bastard looked around, taunting the android’s question. "Yes, it’s quite nice here. Mostly quiet and well, filled with cats as you can see. You do enjoy their company, don’t you? You’re the one that keeps feeding the stray cats behind the station, correct?" 

With a weird ragged feeling in his chest, the android nodded, mutter a weak yeah, because how the fuck did Nines even know that he does that? He usually does it when most people are out of the station and a while before an of the officers with a nightshift arrived. 

"That’s none of your business, asshole" He retorted, partly annoyed, but mostly amused by the place. His eyes kept scanning the place thoroughly, from the cat trees, pillows to the cats themselves.   
Too busy analyzing the place to notice the fluffy little furball that was rubbing against his leg. He jerked backward at the movement. He gave Nines an uncertain look, then he bent down to pet the cat, it purred at him, and he then picked up the cat and set it on his lap to pet it. He wouldn’t bring the stray cat inside so he never had a cat on his lap before, at least not for this long before it hopped off. "Do your cats do this?" 

"My cats are far more clingy than that, and needy" 

"They sounds like little shits. I like them"

A ghost of a grin appeared on Nines’ face, and if Gavin wasn’t advanced with face recognition program or advanced scanning programs he wouldn’t have noticed it so easily. "Maybe you should drop by, meet my cats. Of course if that’s something you would like to do" 

Another strong software instability appeared on his HUD. 

He wasn’t sure if it was the idea Nines wanting him to meet his cats or the fact that Nines have invited him to visit his apartment that caused the instability in his software.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter!💞


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin only ever left the precinct at this time if they were called in for fieldwork or a crime scene, however that isn’t the case today, he is leaving with his human because he has been invited to the detective’s house to meet his cats.

Gavin only ever left the precinct at this time if they were called in for fieldwork or a crime scene, however that isn’t the case today, he is leaving with his human because he has been invited to the detective’s house to meet his cats. 

The ride there was surprisingly short, though that is to be expected, as the Detective’s address is only few minutes away after all. Gavin remained quiet, too busy researching information about visiting other people’s homes, as he never have ever done that, not even with Tina and Chris. He was lead to believe that Nines doesn’t exactly invite anyone over, so that added up to how surprised he was when he got invited over. 

"When I open the door, please do come in quickly, the cats constantly try to escape." Nines instructed as he puts his hand on a door hand-scanner. Gavin took a note of just how refined the whole building was. He gave the detective a curt nod, he can easily catch the cats if they were to try and escape, it shouldn’t be a problem for him, and his advance preconstrution program. Once the door was open, Nines slipped in hastily, and Gavin simply followed suit. 

Gavin was taking in the place with his eyes, scanning it. Very neat and organized as he originally thought it would, not a hint of dust to be seen. He walked to the nearest table, sliding a finger over it. Very very clean. "I didn’t think that a place can reflect on someone’s personality as much as this place reflects you, detective" There was a clear smugness to his tone. 

The human only hummed from where he was, from the looks of it, it was the kitchen. Gavin doesn’t need his advance programs to tell him that Nines was fixing himself a cup of coffee. 

"I’d offer you thirium but I don’t have any"

"Coffee is good too, dipshit" A meow distracted the Android’s attention to the floor, where a fluffy white and brown cat was staring up at him with blue eyes. He recognized the cat as Purr-la. 

"Hello gorgeous" Another meow and purr drew a smile on his face, Gavin’s LED was flickering yellow, taking a knee, letting her sniff his hand before attempting to pet her. When her purrs got louder, another cat joined her. "And you must be Lexi" 

"I should have known you are far more amiable with cats than humans" Nines had two cups in his hands, both filled with good smelling coffee. He sets them both on the coffee table before making himself comfortable on the couch. Gavin joined him shortly but kept his distance. He sat at the far end of the same couch, busying himself with the two furrballs that seem to take a quick liking to him. Both huddled in his lap, no doubt because he was warmer than the average human. 

"I don’t think I’ve seen them warm up to strangers- well a person they haven’t met before. They usually hide under my bed till it’s safe to leave." Nines said in between sips, the TV came to life, it was playing what seems to be a movie- things Gavin only heard about. Nines didn’t seems to be interested in what was on screen unlike his partner who seems very intrigued by whatever was taking place on TV. 

Is this what it feels like to have a home with pets and object that belonged to a person? Just more things that made Gavin wish he could break the damn wall and be able to experience it for himself, but it seems to be some sick joke by someone in Cyberfucks to give him a stronger wall than any android ever created. 

The detective observed the android sat at his couch with careful eyes, studying him. He can see Gavin’s LED circling amber. Nines is familiar that that means that Gavin is thinking or calculating something. "Don’t try and steal my cats, tincan"

That surly drew a small smirk from Gavin, which is exactly what Nines wanted. "It’s not my fault they prefer me over you, meatbag." 

Nines rolled his eyes nonchalantly, he seems more, well.. mellow than he usually is at the precinct. In the few months Gavin worked at the DPD, he studied Nines, out of nothing but curiosity, of course.. 

Nines seemed stoic, stern and sedulous, truly inspiring. He haven’t seen anyone work more efficiently as this one, not even other androids, which only made him more curious to learn more, to ask, and find out more. He have never tried approaching him, not even with mutual friends, afraid that the detective wouldn’t react well to an android, even with his twin brother is usually very friendly to his own HK800, or Hank. Gavin may have only worked with the human for four days, but he is eager to spend more time with Nines. Unlike Nines Gavin wasn’t opposed to the idea of them being partners, there is something appealing about this partnership, he can’t put a name to it. Nines on the other hand wasn’t as eager to work with an android, or specially him, and the reason isn’t a mystery. His personality tend to drive people away. 

He must have been spacing out, because when he turned around the detective was missing. 

LED red. 

He hears rustling coming from a room down the hall, which he assumes is the bedroom. 

LED yellow. 

When Nines reappeared he was wearing a cozy looking white knitted turtleneck sweater, and black slim fit cotton pants. 

GV definitely didn’t think he was hot, definitely not. 

"Excuse me, I had to change into something more comfortable" Nines said with an unreadable expression. 

Gavin was content with sitting where he is with the cats in his lap purring loudly. So he remained quiet, LED back to blue, however it was flickering. 

"How long have you had the cats for?" Gavin guessed that Nines must have bought both cats. What he didn’t expect was they were both adopted. 

"I adopted both. They were very small, and I’m guessing they were ditched by their owners. Fortunately, however, they were both in a great health. Lexi was very hostile to everyone that came close so that limited her chance of being adopted, and Perla was very quiet" Nines spoke with more emotions than he ever shown before, at least in front of people. 

Silence fell upon them again, it wasn’t the heavy kind of silence, rather it was comfortable. 

The rest of the night was mostly pleasant, Gavin got to watch the movie that was on TV, help himself to some of Nines’ food and played with the cats. 

He knew he would have to return to the station now, but he doesn’t want to, the words ‘Return to the station’ appeared on his HUD with urgency. With one last pet he made his way to door, thanked the detective with a small upturn to his lips before leaving the building. He call himself a automatic taxi that took him to the police station. The rest of the trip was somewhat a blur as he found himself standing in the charging station in the bullpen. This felt different, colder. There wasn’t anything homey or warm about this place. With another software instability he entered stasis. 

——————————————

Files were dropped on his desk, he looked up at icy blue eyes. "There is a possible lead. According to your calculations the last two cases we had are related. Both brutally murdered, however first case we had an android killed, but for the second one we had a human.. Yet both cases share a suspects, the little android group."

While Gavin meant to pay attention to what Nines was saying, his brain was caught up on the fact that Nines have been listening to him, instead of pushing him around as most of the people in the precinct did. That earned him a fluttering feeling in his thirium pump. He did a quick scan, but his system told him there was nothing wrong. 

"Are you listening, Gavin?"

Gavin nodded, unsure if he comprehended what was his audio processors were supplying him. 

Then the bastard begun snapping his fingers in front of Gavin’s face. 

With a scowl, Gavin grabbed the hand with his own. "I’m not deaf, doofus." 

Icy blue eyes met greenish gray, then both gazes shifted to the connected hands. Gavin tilted his head, LED flickering, but the detective was quick to retrieve his, clearing his throat. 

"Well, if you would pay attention I wouldn’t have to go to such measures to draw your attention back to me." Nines said with hush almost piqued voice. 

Gavin glared hotly at his smartass of a human. He replayed what the detective have said few minutes prior. "Right, what the fuck is your point of citing my report to me, Nines?"

Nines sighed patiently, but only barely. "What I was saying while you were buffering is that we might have a lead. A group of android has been seen walking, or rather stalking a human, the place was crowded so they didn’t dare to attempt anything, yet at least."

Gavin hummed more about patiently than Nines was. "Right, and do we have names or faces or some shit?"

"Yes, we have caught them on surveillance, we should be able to identify them, and bring them in" Nines explained, shoving his partner to the side to get an access to his terminal, logging into the footage, and zooming onto the faces of the androids. Gavin huffed elbowing Nines for shoving him a minute ago. "Don’t you have your own terminal, asshole?"

The said asshole, only made a sound of acknowledgement, but carried on with his work, which also involved Gavin interfacing with the terminal to determine the androids’ model numbers. 

————————————————

Brining in the androids was easy, interrogating them wasn’t necessarily so.  
The detective allowed Gavin to interrogate them, a way to evaluate how well his android did this part of the job. He stood behind the two-way mirror, watching Gavin with careful eyes.

Gavin was seated in front of one of the androids they have apprehend. 

"What made you want to murder not only a human but an android too?" Gavin pretended to peek into the file that he has read, but it was mostly to nerve their perp. 

"You’re not a deviant" the Perp said in a matter of factly manner. 

Gavin’s LED started blinking, but remained blue. "That’s not what we’re here to discuss, prick. Answer the question" his hands drummer in the table, a tic. 

The android in front of him, known as Jackson, only stared at him as if bored, but GV can detect the anger within him. "The androids got too friendly toward humans, and the human got what she deserved. You expect us to forgot what they have done to us, in those camps and just forgive them that easily? No. No we will fight, seek revenge!"

"Fight for what? You all gained your damn freedom and all that shit! What is there to fight or take revenge for?" Gavin pressed, all he’s getting from this that was clearly a hate crime against humans or any android that was too friendly to humans. 

Software instability ^

"You’re a machine, I don’t except you to see it how I see it. You’re still a slave to those contemptible humans." Jackson laughed with no real humor. "Your handler is a piece of work. You follow his every instruction like a little obedient machine?"

His LED is now flickering yellow, not out of confusion, but irritation. "I wouldn’t be saying some shitty presumptions, especially if I was in your place. You’re just a corrupted android with no common sense or any sense really. You and your chums are gonna get locked up for a long time, all cause you pulled a fucking fuse and went haywire" 

The Android’s hateful eyes stared right at Gavin, then shifted to the two-way mirror, as if he knew that Nines was there. "You two will get what you deserve. You will pay for siding with the humans, but what would we even expect from a deviant hunter?"

"Yeah yeah, save it for the judge, plastic" Gavin got up, collecting his files and left the room, and trudging into the observing room, where his partner was. 

When he came face to face with Nines another strong software instability flared across his HUD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!💞  
> Kudos and comments are appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The words ‘head back to the station’ still flashed in his HUD. 
> 
> "Stay?" Nines tried again once he saw how reluctant Gavin looked. Gavin’s system took it as an order even when GV knew it wasn’t, it was a request. 
> 
> ‘Stay with Detective Stern’
> 
> A small grin appeared on Gavin’s face, as he tipped his head in a short nod.

LED yellow, yellow, red, yellow. 

"Gavin." 

Gavin turned toward the deep but gentle voice. He did not speak, but merely stared at his human waiting for him to continue speaking, when he didn’t. "You want something, detective?" 

"Your light has been spinning ardently ever since we left the interrogation room. Something bothering you?" Nines asked, his undivided attention was directed at his partner, a hint of worry in his voice if you listened closely. 

After a moment of silence Nines spoke again, because it seems the android wasn’t going to speak up about what was bothering him, though he might have a suspicion to what it might be. "Did Jackson scare you? You know, culprits usually sprout empty threats all the time, it shouldn’t be terrifying. Additionally, he couldn’t possible do anything while he and his friends are locked up behind bars."

LED red, yellow, red, yellow, yellow. 

Stress level: 45%   
-Reminder: Stress levels should remain under 75% at all times. 

Gavin remained silent, deciding not to address his concerns but work on his terminal instead. His LED kept exposing his said concerns with the amber flickering of it. There was something about threat that didn’t sit right with Gavin, his scans told him that Jackson was not lying when he was threatening them, which frighten him even more. 

A pair of hands sat on either side of his shoulder, massaging him lightly. "Relax, tincan. Jackson won’t be able to do anything. Take a break, calm down then come back to work." 

Gavin grunted slowly, "You suck at comforting, meatsack" 

The detective breathed out a laugh, although it was a brief one, it also was genuine. "At the very least you can’t say I haven’t tried, partner" Nines winked, even his damn wink is perfect. 

"Fuck off" Gavin huffed, but some of his worries evaporated. 

Stress level: 33%

"I’m sure your cats are better at it than you are" 

"I’m sure they are."

Stress level: 25%

And that’s how Gavin found himself invited to the detective’s apartment again, and slowly it became some sort of a routine. Once or twice a week Nines would invite GV to his apartment to play with his cat, and Gavin secretly enjoys the company of the cats’ owner as well. 

"There is so many things wrong with that! Robots don’t walk and talk like that, that’s stupid. The fuck did beep boop even come from?" Gavin expressed just how unpleased he was with how old movies have portray androids. 

"It’s how androids were envisioned back then. They didn’t have the technology, so this is all conjectures of how the androids would look like" Nines explained from where he was sitting on the couch. They grew to close the distance between each other while seated, they no longer sat at either sides of the couch. 

Gavin hummed, annoyance still laced his voice, but it has mellowed down. "Still pretty Android-ist of them" 

—————————————

So Gavin found himself eager for every one of those visits, but dreaded when he had to go back to the precinct. 

Except one evening when it was raining heavily outside. Gavin was making his way to the front door as per usual, it was late and he was taking his leave, But this time Nines stopped him, "You’re not seriously planning on leaving in this dreadful weather?" 

"I have to get back to the station, detective" Gavin said in an almost monotone voice. 

"Not in this weather! We have tomorrow off either ways. You could stay here, if you would like. At least till the weather clears out." The human insisted, blocking the Android’s way. 

The words ‘head back to the station’ still flashed in his HUD. 

"Stay?" Nines tried again once he saw how reluctant Gavin looked. Gavin’s system took it as an order even when GV knew it wasn’t, it was a request. 

‘Stay with Detective Stern’

A small grin appeared on Gavin’s face, as he tipped his head in a short nod. 

"Alright, I’m taking the couch as well as the two cats" Plummeting himself on the couch, Gavin laughed when the cats joined him almost instantly. They seem to be pleased that Gavin wasn’t leaving, and the detective seems to share that feeling as well if his rapid heart is anything to go by. 

"Dumbass" 

"Smartass" Grin only growing bigger, he pets Lexi that have perched herself on his lap, while he makes himself comfortable on the couch. While being distracted by the cat, Nines have disappeared into the bedroom and reappeared a few minutes later with neatly folded clothes in his hands. He held them before Gavin, offering them to him. Tilting his head slightly, Gavin stared at him with a confused expression clear on his face. 

"Uh what’s this?" Gavin inquired, not understanding why the detective would be giving him clothes when he was wearing some already. 

"I believe they are called pajamas- well actually it’s a pair of sweatpants, and a shirt. They might be a size big, but they should do." 

When the confusion haven’t to left GV’s face, Nines exhaled and tried again. "A change of clothes, something more comfy than your regular attire." An uneasy feeling grasped at Nines, Gavin not only seems to never leave the precinct unless it was case or work related, but he also seems to own one pair of clothes- unless he owned many of the exact same one.

Gavin’s LED blinked blue, accepting the clothes, and elatedly found the bathroom to change into them. Nines was correct about his assumption of the clothes being slightly big, but damn if it wasn’t comfy. He liked how soft and warm it felt against his skin. Wanting to thank the detective for the clothes, Gavin searched for the detective, and found him in the kitchen, fixing himself what appears to be a cup green tea. 

"A bit big, but comfy." Gavin said, making his presence known. Nines gave him a small smug smile, "You’re welcome" 

"Yeah yeah, thanks asshole. I was gonna thank you if you kept your mouth shut for one moment" Leaning on the counter, sporting the widest grin Nines ever saw on Gavin. 

That night Gavin laid down on the couch, covered in some blankets Nines have provided him with, as well as a pillow. It all felt very odd, usually he stood in his charging station and that’s how he ‘slept’. He didn’t need to charge often, as an advance model he can go a whole week without the need to charge. He usually only went into stasis in the charging station cause he had nowhere else to ‘sleep’. He laid awake for a while, hand stroking Purr-la, as he tries to make sense of how awfully domestic this all felt, and how he.. wAnt$ th!s.

Software instability ^

He blinked the errors off his view, as he entered stasis.

______________

Gavin was brought out of his stasis by a sound of rustling and clunking coming from the kitchen- his system told him- Gavin took a second to recalibrate, and his optical adjusted the lighting in 0.7 seconds. 

He stood up with ease, as he padded to the kitchen, where the two cats were eating their food with such a wet sound it made Gavin cringe and lower his audio processors. 

"Good morning" Nines said while his back was still facing Gavin. He seems to be cooking something on the oven, with his advanced capabilities GV could easily tell it was egg sandwiches. 

Gavin hummed, peeking at the food Nines was making, he knew the detective is a skilled cook, but he just never seen him do it. Similarly to his desk, Nines’ apartment was very organized and clean. There wasn’t a single thing out of place. 

"There’s thirium in the fridge" 

Gavin have assumed that the human was joking, but he checked nonetheless. He wasn’t. There were three big bottles of thirium chilling on the upper deck of the fridge. "So now you invite androids to your house and give them thirium?" It was a joke, but he doubted that the curiosity in his voice was as hidden as he wanted it to be. 

Nines sent a tamed glare in GV’s direction, but answered anyway, "No. I thought since, well, you come here often.. I thought I’d have some stored around in case you wanted or needed some. I’m merely being a good host."

"Bullshit, we’re beyond host and guest at this point, doofus." Gavin retorted as he grabbed one of the bottles and closed the fridge with his foot. "Thanks meatsack." 

Nines did something Gavin only have seen in his preconstrutions. He smiled. Like a full smile, with eyes squinted, white perfect teeth on show and everything. 

Software instability ^

...Error... high risk of overheating, please reduce body temperature. 

His inner fans kicked in, working overtime to cool his overheating body. 

Gavin sat down on one of the stools in Nines’ kitchen, sipping his thirium. Neither said anything for a long while. 

He thinks he’s malfunctioning, his thiriuim pump is stuttering while his face feels extremely warm. LED blinking yellow.   
All things that Nines seems to pick on, because he looked at GV with concern in his eyes. 

"What do you do on weekends?" Gavin was quick to ask, distracting the human from asking about whatever seems to be making him get flares of software instabilities. 

"Well" Nines started, haven’t expected his partner to initiate a conversation. "Mostly stay home, do some work if I had any, clean up around the apartment, play with the cats, watch a movie or sometimes read. When the weather is nice, I’d go for a walk." 

"Huh. That makes sense." Gavin found himself saying. 

"What about you? What do you do on your day offs?"

Gavin turn to look at Nines. Face devoid of any expressions. "I, Uh, stay at the precinct. Help any officer that require it, and make sure everything is in order. Sometimes I get called in for simple cases like robberies, or filed complaints" he gave a shrug, like it’s something normal for a person to practically live in the department. 

It wasn’t. It wasn’t normal at all, not even for an android. Nines knows that Gavin haven’t deviated, not really. He acts like he is deviant, but he saw him follow orders to a T. But forcing a deviancy didn’t work on GV, HK800 tried but it only sent a shock wave to his brother’s android and GV remained a machine, well half a machine. If GV were to deviate he will have to do it naturally, which proved to be more challenging than it seems, especially with Gavin’s advance programming and software. 

This time it was GV who was snapping his fingers in front of Nines’ face to get his attention. "Detective?" 

Nines huffed, calmly closing his eyes and then opening them to focus on the android before him. "You can call me Nines." 

That wasn’t something he expected to hear. Gavin knew that Richard only allows his close friends to call him by 'Nines' and GV have never receive permission to call him that, but he kept calling him to irk him, but also secretly wishing he would be allowed that privilege someday.

And now he has. 

He blinked, blue painted his face. A small grin appeared on his face. 

"Nines" 

Although he has been saying it a lot in the past week they have been working together, but this time... it sounds different. Felt different. 

Software instability ^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! 💞


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Your LED.."
> 
> "Don’t let it fool you. I’m not a deviant, I don’t feel." A lie, Gavin knew he did, even if it was restricted by his own programming, which is preventing him from experiencing emotions the way other deviants do.

One evening where Gavin and Nines were having a movie marathon, and Nines of course was out cold on the couch after the third movie, his audio processors have picked up a noise coming from the street below. GV stood up and advanced toward the window.

A lone figure was looking up at the window, it seems that it is unable to see him.

LED blinked a furious red.

He took a quick glance at Nines then back out.. but the figure was gone. Has it even been there? Was it only his ‘imagination’ or was his system acting up? 

Stress level: 49%  
-Reminder: Stress level should always remain below 75%

His breath hitched, which is ironic. He did not need to breath, but it proved to be useful especially when he was stressed or when he was overheating. 

He contemplated waking Nines up, but the figure, whoever it was, is gone now. Gavin hacked all the cameras in their street, but there is no evidence that the figure was even there, except.. there was once he reviewed the footage that the street camera by their building took. He saved that video into his database, and filed it for review at a later time. For the meantime he sat back on the couch, but remained awake till morning. It was a day off for both of them and last night Nines have insisted he visited and stayed for a movie marathon. 

Stress level: 53%

His LED kept spinning red, painting the whole room scarlet. Frightening and alarming. 

GV’s system is on high alert, audio processors overworking itself. There was nothing, the neighborhood remained tranquil till morning. 

Stress level: 51%

His own gun has remained by his side all through the night, he didn’t dare go into stasis, too stressed and petrified to. His scans have informed him that the detective was gaining consciousness, waking up. 

Icy blue eyes found him easily, blinking the sleep away. "Good morning, Gavin" his voice sounded gruff. 

Gavin did what he did best when stressed, mask his emotions with brashness, except it was so much tamer with Nines now. He has grown soft ever since he started working with his detective for the past month or so. 

"Can’t believe you fell asleep after the third movie. Three movies are hardly a marathon" Gavin grumbled, his face expression must have given something away because Nines snorted. 

Gavin ignore him, moving from his place on the couch and toward the kitchen. He appeared five minutes later with a cup of hot coffee. He is no domestic android but it was more of a thank you than anything else. 

The coffee was sipped in silence. Gavin have tried making his special thiruim coffee for himself, when checked his stress level which has declined drastically without his knowledge. 

Stress level: 25%

Still slightly high for a regular android, but to Gavin it was where his stress levels typically stood. 

GV only looked up once his cup was emptied. The detective was petting Purr-la, who was curled up against his chest. 

"Everything alright, Gavin?" 

He looked up to find the detective studying him, or rather his LED. "Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?"

"Your LED.."

"Don’t let it fool you. I’m not a deviant, I don’t feel." A lie, Gavin knew he did, even if it was restricted by his own programming, which is preventing him from experiencing emotions the way other deviants do.

Silence stretched between them. Nines gave him an ambiguous look, one that he couldn’t decipher. Then Nines got to his feet and retreated to kitchen. 

Eyebrow furrowed, but Gavin did not move from his spot on the couch, he remained, stress level increasing by 2%. 

It was fifteen minutes when Nines left the kitchen with a plate of food to enjoy while he watch tv, but he made no attempt to strike up a conversation with his android, but kept an eye on the LED which continued to blink between yellow and red. 

When evening came the human told Gavin that he could leave if he wished to do so, and as a non-deviant Android he couldn’t stay even if he wanted to. So he bid the human detective goodnight before he left the apartment and exited the building. A prompt appeared on his HUD, one that he took with no hesitation. 

Protect Detective Stern

Which is exactly what he did. He stood by the entrance to the building and kept watch all night long. 

—————

"Detective" Gavin greeted as Nines was leaving the building almost giving his partner a heart attack. 

"Oh Jesus! What do you think you’re doing?" Nines said snappily, taking a breath to steady his erratic heart. 

"Waiting for you" Gavin said, which was part of the truth. Would voicing his concerns be useful at all?

The detective simply walked pass him and got into the car, but waiting for Gavin to get onto the passenger seat. 

The day was pretty uneventful, they remained mostly on their desks working on case files. They have not spoken to each other outside of work related things. Nines can easily tell that Gavin was still stressed about something but chose not to pry, for now at least. 

Gavin looked over his terminal when he heard footsteps heading to the front door. How did he not realize that their shift have ended ten minutes ago? He hastily turns off his terminal and follows Nines. 

Wordlessly entering the car, but the human didn’t order him to leave, so he took that as a good sign. As they drove to the apartment, GV kept a peeled eye for anything out of the ordinary. Only when the car was parked did the detective inquire about his partner’s odd behavior. 

"What is bothering you so much that you have to be on edge for the whole day?" Although Nines attempted to make it seem as if he was indifferent, it was clear he was concerned. 

GV’s LED spun once before he answered, "I know you think we shouldn’t worry about Jackson’s threat, but I have reasons to believe that that fucker is up to something" 

He showed him the footage of what happened the other night, and even Nines couldn’t deny that something is off. But of course the moron had to imply- again- that GV is fearful. 

At least the detective is taking into consideration the possibility of that threat being real. "I’ll have some officers keep an eye on Jackson. We have caught most of his crew" a hand with the intention of reassurance was placed on GV’s shoulder, followed with a gentle squeeze. "Is that why your light have been acting up last morning?" 

GV did not deny, and that’s all Nines needed as proof. 

The Android’s inability to deviate is nothing new to Nines, but it’s proving to be harder and harder to believe that with all the emotions that keeps bleeding from said android. GV might be closer to deviating than he thinks he is, he just needs a push in the right direction. 

————————

For the next week or so, they solved two more cases, nothing happened, but that did not ease Gavin’s nerves. After every shift he would follow the detective to his apartment, he spent most of his nights there. As the second week rolled around, Gavin calmed down, and was not on edge as he used to be, which Nines is grateful for. Having the android follow him everywhere, scanning the area and babysitting him was not his definition of fun- although he quite enjoyed the Android’s company. 

Weeks turned into months, two months to be exactly. Gavin is far more relaxed now, nothing have happened after that night when he saw the figure, so his nerves can finally repose. The case has been officially closed weeks ago, and they got a handful of other cases to take care of, including android related ones, no surprise really, android getting shut down is now considered a crime. 

Some of their cases evinced to be more difficult than some, like one where Gavin found himself with three bullets, two in his shoulder and one in his left arm. He regretted nothing, if he hadn’t taken those bullets his partner would have been severely wounded, and unlike the android he might have not made it. 

"What was that?" The detective rebuked, in time with his own preconstruction. 

"If I haven’t stopped those bullets, they would be lodged somewhere in you. There was at least 60% chance of it being lethal." Gavin explained while he examine his ruined hoodie, which was now soaked in his own thirium. "So I basically saved your ass, dickhead."

"Why, because you think your life isn’t as important as mine? Or is it because I’m ‘irreplaceable’ and you aren’t?" Nines couldn’t quite conceal the emotions from his voice, which made Gavin swallow the next few words he was about to utter.

It was exactly that, but also the need to protect his human. They have been working together for months and he may have grown attached to Nines. 

Nines pinched the bridge of his nose taking a steadying breath, when the paramedic found them. Nines watched as they took his partner to a repair shop or rather an android equivalent of a hospital. 

Nines have complied to wait in the hallway while they did the necessary, which by what he was informed involved pulling the bullets out, and check if any wires were damaged. The procedure took about three hours, but Nines remained as patient as he could- pacing along the hallway, or tapping his foot while he took a seat were the best he can do in regards to being idle and nervous while he waited. 

Gavin was escorted out of the room with two technicians, who told Nines that there was nothing to worry about, the bullets were removed and the android is as good as new. 

"You look like shit" The android said when he laid eyes on his human, his stress level were high and GV hoped he can lower them by banter. 

That pulled a small smile out of the detective. "You don’t like any better, toaster." he said as he lead the way to his car that he parked out by the door in a rush when he arrived. 

Gavin frowned, looking down at his ruined hoodie, it was the only one he had. Even if he washed the thirium off, the bullet holes are going to need some fixing as well. It all haven’t gone unnoticed, Nines have been observing him, a determine expression crossed his face as a thought presented itself in his mind.

"Why are we here? We still have about four hours and twenty two minutes till the end of our shifts" Gavin protested, but followed Nines out of the car and up into his apartment. Where he now spends most of his off duty time, and most nights.

"Sit"

"The fuck did you say?" Gavin said through gritted teeth as the objective flashed in his HUD. His body complied to it immediately, took it as an order. 

"I’ll be back in a bit, you stay here with the cats and- well do whatever you please." And just like that, the detective left. 

Gavin blinked, head tilted in a puzzled manner. What is his dumb human up to now? Well, he did say he can do whatever he pleases, so he started by playing with the cats after removing his hoodie and discarding it on the couch. 

Two hours later Nines walked in, hands full of shopping bags. Gavin wasn’t certain if he wants to unwrap that one, so he doesn’t ask or say anything, but simply watched as the detective approach him, setting at least four large paper bags in front of him. 

Nines must have recognized his confused look, because he immediately started explaining, "I noticed that you don’t really have a change of clothes-"

"Actually I do, I have the pajama you gave me" Gavin bluntly interrupted, but a glare from Nines silenced him immediately, and allowed the Nines to continue. 

"You ruined your jacket today, and I thought I’d get you some clothes that you can wear, instead of your Cyberlife uniform" 

GV’s gaze moved between the bags and Nines, LED spinning yellow. 

"I-If there is anything you do not like, I can return it, and-" 

"Uh, fuck.. I mean, thanks" GV said softly, gesture not lost with him, thirium pump stuttering as he reached for the bags.

Software instability ^

And similar ones followed for the rest of the day. 

The next morning, Gavin tried one of the many clothes that Nines have gifted him. He wore a dark gray long sleeve shirt, and black pants. He feels somewhat exposed without his white hoodie, which was in the drier right now. He will have to learn how to sew to fix the three holes in his jacket. 

The look Nines gave him before they made it to work have flared another set of software instabilities.

He can see how much larger cracks are becoming, the wall is crumbling. It might have taken him months but he’s slowly breaking through his red wall. He can move around rules and laws, find loopholes easier, without his program giving him much of a trouble. 

Their day mostly consisted of filing reports, interrogating perps, especially when the precinct was as understaffed as it is. Gavin was currently sitting on his own desk working on a file for one of their case when a bottle of cold thiruim was placed in front of him. He looked up only to find the detective making his way to his desk from Gavin’s.

Software instability^

An involuntary smile appeared on his face, as he sipped from the cup. Another thing he learned about his human is that he has a funny way of showing his emotions, like the bags of thirium that filled half of Nines’ fridge, or the fact that he has his own pillows and blankets, or the clothes that were gifted to him, all actions that made his thirium pump flutter, and increase all the error messages, earning him more software instabilities in a day than he used to have in a month before he was partnered with Nines.

———————

"He bought you clothes?" Tina inquired, sipping from the awful break room coffee, she’s sure dirt tastes better than this.

"Uh, yeah. Right after I was shot and got my jacket ruined with bullet holes and thirium" Gavin have thought it was something humans did, but that didn’t stop him from receiving at least five different software instabilities about it.

"Oh Gav, you absolute dumbass." She said with a tune that suggested something she isn’t telling him. 

Gavin huffed, whatever she isn’t telling him is starting to irk him. "What?"

"Nines cares about you" Tina said, but it seems that she is holding up so much more than that. 

"We’re partners" GV said stupidly, which proved Tina’s point. 

"I don’t think he ever cared for any of his partners before"

"They all lasted no longer than a week"

"Exactly. How long have you and Nines been partnered?"

"Almost 3 months.." Gavin said slowly analyzing the meaning behind all this. 

Software instability^ 

"What the fuck are you implying, T?" There was an urge to Gavin’s vocal modulator. 

Tina did not respond to that, she simply downed her coffee, tossed the styrofoam cup away before standing at the doorframe, "Find out that one on your own" then she left, leaving a frustratedly confused android behind.

———————

The next day Gavin stared at the empty desk before him. The detective wasn’t in his seat, he had gone to fetch him coffee and now he isn’t here. LED cycling yellow, as he scanned the precinct. The detective was no where to be found, which was unusual, the detective never left without informing Gavin first, or leaving a message at the very least. 

Said message arrived a moment later: 

Detective Dick: I’m outside, in the car. Get your ass here.  
GV900: You got it, Prick.

Gavin made his way out, Nines was waiting in the car as promised. He slipped into the passenger seat. "What, did we get a case?"

"No, we’ll be having our lunch break out." Nines said calmly as he drove, "You liked the cat cafe, correct?"

The place was as he remembered it, he haven’t been here for weeks, and he missed the place, even though he only have been here once or twice. They picked the same spot they did last time, by the window. Immediately three cats approached him, one of which jumped onto the table and meowed loudly for some attention, one Gavin was happy to give. 

As he looked straight ahead, at the detective, he realized that he was being observed. "Like what you see, Nines?" Gavin teases, giving him a wink. 

Nines rolled his eyes, but the tip of his ears turned red. "Just pick something to order, tin can"

With a hum, Gavin picked one of the thirium iced coffee the cafe had, and some dessert to go with it. 

He can’t deny how homey Nines’ apartment feels, one place he feels w4rm.. He always dreaded the days that he can’t accompany the detective to his apartment, which as days passed by, have become almost nonexistent. Now there is hardly a night that he doesn’t spend with the detective, and weekends and days off have slowly became a part of that too. The detective have become a huge part of his life, part of his emotions that slowly tries to leak out of the red wall. The sound of cracks are getting louder, the cracks themselves are becoming larger and it both excited and scared him. Wondering how emotions really feel without restrictions, the ability to do and think for his own is invigorating.

"Gavin?" Nines snapped this fingers in front of the android to get his attention. 

Gavin blinked a few times, reading the worry on the detective’s face. "I was thinking"

Nines physically relaxed, and then let out one of his rare soft laughs that never failed to make Gavin’s heart fluster. 

Software instability^

Error.. please head to the nearest Cyberlife facility for checkups. 

Software instability^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter💞


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thirium pump clenched painfully in his chest- he gasped audibly- he felt that. Holy shit he felt that, like actually felt that. 
> 
> The soft look Nines was giving him, morphed into a concerned one. "Gavin?"

Gavin awoke from his stasis to find more errors in his systems. He knows he’s deviating, he can feel it, however his is taking too long, and it’s straining his system. 

Today was another day off, and he failed to register that both cats were sleeping on his thirium pump. He reach up, and stroke their soft fur, contently listening to their purrs, as he dismisses all the errors that were blocking his vision. "Am I your favorite spot to nap on?" One of the cats answers with a mewl. 

"I have not expected for you to be up this early" Nines stood by the doorframe of the small hallway that lead to his bedroom. 

Checking his internal clock confirmed his suspension. It was 5am. "Detective- It’s five in the fucking morning, why are you up this early?" 

Nines did not answer, he made his way to the couch, lifted the Android’s legs, took a seat, then settled Gavin’s legs back, but on his own lap. Gavin simply stared at his human with what might have seemed a blank stare, but it actually carried so much worry for Nines. 

"I simply couldn’t sleep. Why are you up then?" 

"I don’t need to go into stasis every night, actually I can go a whole week without a single minute of stasis." Gavin said proudly, but he isn’t sure why that was. Was it his superiority? His advancement? He wasn’t sure. It’s as if he could feel some emotions seeping from the many cracks on the red wall, but he isn’t able to analyze them or their meaning, so he stored whatever that was for later assessment. "But, I guess I can download a few bedtime stories for you-" it was said with such smugness that Nines’ lips lifted at the corners on their own, hiding them behind his hands, stifling the inevitable laugh that threatened to overtake him. 

"It still amuse me that although you aren’t deviant, you can make such smartass comments like that" Nines said, amusement clear in his tune. One thing that bothers the human is that he wasn’t able to assist his partner into fully deviating, but that doesn’t mean that he will quit trying. 

"That aside, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me while I go to Malwart to get a few things-"

"Yeah sure, I’ll go" Gavin said immediately, not because he wanted to protect the detective, he have calmed down greatly after a month passing with no creepy incidents, but simply because he is curious to see more of what the detective does after work, including shopping. He knows that it’s not the usual grocery trip because they went two days ago and they are still stocked up when it comes to food and whatever the detective needs to cook or simply for his daily necessities. 

So at 10am they were out the door, the Detective opted to walk so GV simply followed, a step behind, Nines kept giving him glances, but otherwise kept his mouth shut till they entered the store. "What are you looking for, Nines?" 

"Nothing in particular-"

Gavin’s LED spun, but he didn’t question the detective, he simply followed him as they walked from one aisle to the next. Oppose to what Nines said, he seemed to be looking for something. 

They stopped along one of the aisle that had what he can assume is some toys along other things. Nines let out a quiet ‘ah’ as he grabbed one of the items on the shelf, then forged toward the next aisle, followed by a very confused android, but he kept his mouth quiet, even though he had a lot to say. It was moments like these that made Gavin hate the fact that he isn’t able to fully deviate. 

After grabbing few more items, they headed back to Nines’ apartment. 

GV kept sending curious looks at the bags that laid by the coffee table. There seems to be few boxes inside, and he wasn’t exactly paying attention to the stuff Nines kept buying because he grabbed and hastily placed them in the cart away from his line of sight. He didn’t question the detective, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious to what Nines was buying. 

"Gavin.." Gavin heard the detective call from where he was standing over the bags. "Mind making me a fresh bot of coffee?" 

With a grunt that can only be translated as an agreement, emotions he can’t describe bubbled within him every time his human would politely request something, never ordering him, even when he knew that Gavin can’t say no because of his programming and lack of deviancy. GV900 washes the bot, preparing a new one while he hearing some rustling from the living room. He tried to pay it no mind, but he’s intrigued. 

A notification popped on his HUD almost starting him. He cocked his head toward the living room, noting that the lights are off there. It doesn’t make sense because there is absolutely no way that Nines forgot something as essential as paying the electricity bills, not to mention that the lights are still on in kitchen. Curiously he strode to the living room, registering the soft glowing that was coming from the coffee table. His programming gave him a name he wasn’t familiar with. 

Lava lamp. 

He stared with fascination clear in his eyes, analyzing every bit his visual receptors are feeding him. From the mix of mineral oil, paraffin wax and carbon to the glass bottle itself that’s housing all those substances. 

"Is that a lava lamp that’s invented in the 1963 by the founder of lightning company Mathmos, Edward Walker?" Gavin supplied from the string of information his program provided to him. Face elated by something equivalent of excitement and curiosity if he was a deviant. 

Nines allowed himself to hope. "Yes, yes it certainly is. Do you like it?"

Yes. 

"It’s uh.. interesting to say the least" Gavin said instead, the answer he wanted to say was just out of reach, behind the crumbling red wall. 

Nines gave a short nod, but continued observing his partner. "You can touch it"

Two greenish gray eyes turned to his icy blue, then back at the object. The Android’s hand slowly reached to the lamp, it wasn’t hot as he expected, despite his system already telling him that it wouldn’t be. 

"Oh!" Was breathed when more bubbles surfaced, LED flashing between blue and yellow, as if GV was processing information. 

"Why would you get something so ancient anyway, meatbag?" Gavin said after a while of staring without blinking- 15 minutes and 20 seconds to be exact. 

"It’s not mine" 

GV waited for the detective to elaborate on that. 

"It’s yours"

"But I didn’t buy it-"

"I’m aware. But I bought it for you, dumbass." LED blinked amber again, not a single hint of blue- brows furrowed and Nines almost thought he messed up somehow, but then LED settled on blue again, and the android looked almost sheepish and awkward, rubbing his neck, in such a deviant way, he almost kid himself into thinking that Gavin have finally deviated. 

Software instability ^^^

"Uh, thanks I guess" Gavin uttered then quickly picked up Purr-la that was trying to swat at the rising bubbles. "No, that’s mine you brat. You have your own toys, that’s mine" 

The good mood remained for the rest of the day, they remained home, doing some chores here and there then settled down for a movie in the evening, a routine that they have picked up. 

That night after Nines have retreated to his bedroom after wishing Gavin a Goodnight, GV laid awake on the couch, draped in a soft blanket that Nines have given to him. He reviewed almost all the instances that he filed for later. 

What he didn’t expect was for his system to be bombarded with error messages and software instabilities that he had to go through a quick reboot. 

Initiating system...  
System working.......  
Error detected in software......  
Rebooted successfully.......

Welcome back, GV900.

>>April 22 2039.. 2:47am

>> charge 97% (next estimated charging required 10 days, 20 hours, 01 minute(s), and 49 seconds.

>>Head to the nearest Cyberlife facilities for checkup (2)

>> Stress level: 32%

Gavin blinked few times, as his system calibrates. He took a breath, room was bathed in a yellow light from his LED. The reason of his reboot is somewhat of a mystery, and said mystery is sleeping in the next room. 

"Fucking human."

He took practiced breaths, doing what he learned was breath exercises, it cooled down his system, and reduced his stress level to an acceptable level. 

Although he didn’t need it, he initiated stasis, not wanting a repeat of what happened few moments ago if he kept pondering. 

————————

The next morning something was off..

The detective looked almost elated about something, humming as he made himself breakfast, letting Gavin prepare coffee for him. 

He didn’t dare to ask, but he stayed attentive, he wasn’t sure what was special about today, it seemed like any ordinary working day.

Except it wasn’t.

Not to Nines at least.

While Gavin was busy working on his terminal, filing in reports, filing cases, and all that shit. A basket plummeting on his desk drew his attention to Nines who towered over him. "Happy 3 months, partner" what his computer brain took in first was the redness on the ear tips, then the blush that seem to creep over Nines’ cheeks and finally.. on the words spoken. And the soft small smile.

Software instability ^^^

>>Chassis overheating.. reduce temperatures or risk a forced reboot

Gavin let out a breathy thank you. His eyes scanned the basket, evading the detective’s ridiculously beautiful face to avoid a reboot. 

The basket contained many things, bottles of what he assume is fancy thirium juice of some sorts, a variety of thirium based sweets and goodies, a small cat plushie with a black scarf that has his initials, GV.

Thirium pump clenched painfully in his chest- he gasped audibly- he felt that. Holy shit he felt that, like actually felt that. 

The soft look Nines was giving him, morphed into a concerned one. "Gavin?"

For a moment everything was behind the red wall, then as soon as it appeared it vanished, shattering into tiny pieces. More errors flooded his HUD, then everything went black.

Rebooting...

Initiating system...  
System working.......  
RA9......  
Rebooted successfully.......

Welcome back, GV900.

>>April 22 2039.. 12:34pm

>> charge 97% (next estimated charging required 10 days, 9 hours, and 22 minutes and 14 seconds.

>> Stress level: 20%

There were no errors, no software instabilities and no objectives, at least not ones that he is obligated by his program to follow. 

He was finally a deviant. 

He blinked.

"Oh thank god!" He heard his human say, worry more evident in his voice than ever. 

"Hey meatbag" GV said with a weak smirk, as a warm hand helped him stand steadily on his feet. 

"What happened? You just- I don’t know, you just shut down or something." Richard said anxiously, he managed to catch GV just as he was falling, and right before he hit the ground.

Gavin let his wide smirk speak for him. LED blinking bright blue. 

Nines shifted his gaze from Gavin’s expression, to the light in his temple and back. "What? Are you-"

Gavin nodded, as he stood on his own, system fully functional. "I deviated! Fuck- oh shit I can just do whatever the fuck I want, no restrictions no order!" 

And with no restrictions he was able to wrap his arms around Nines’ neck, pulling him into a hug that felt warm and just right. Nines snaked his own around Gavin’s middle, contentment radiating from him. "Oh god, Gavin.. I can’t believe you’ve finally managed to break through your coding" the hug ended too soon in both their opinions. They have decided to celebrate this occasion later tonight, Nines, Gavin, Tina and Chris agreed to meet at a diner and celebrate there.

Once there, they all huddled in a booth, it was all on Nines, he insisted. Although Nines have never expressed anything beyond stoic, there was a beautiful aura around him today, he seems content, softer, and simply enraptured, and Gavin adored it. All the feeling were amplified, all the bubbling and warm feelings inside his chest made it hard to focus on just one feeling. But he knows it’s all positive feelings and he is beyond thrilled about it all. 

The evening was lovely, they laughed, drank, ate and told all kinds of case stories, enjoyed themselves overall.

Nines excused himself to the bathroom, and Gavin was half tempted to follow. 

Three minute passed when he saw something that made his LED glow scarlet. A hooded figure just passed by the window front of the diner and disappeared. 

His breath hitched,as he stood erratically, and particularly ran to the bathroom- it was empty. "NINES!" He yelled hysterically as he looked around the diner, scanning every inch of it. He was not in here..

“FUCK- NINES.." Gavin cried, shakily he made his way back to their booth, where Tina and Chris were visibly alarmed. 

————  
"Tell me what happened again" Connor said calmly, it was strange, he disliked it. Why was he so fucking calm when his own twin was fucking missing?

"I fucking told you! He went to the bathroom, three minutes and ten seconds has passed then I saw the creepy hooded figure- Jackson! Is he still locked up?" Gavin demanded to know, he needs to find his human. 

"Yeah he is.. right?" Connor said the last bit with less confidence as he turned to his own partner, HK800- Hank. 

Hank’s LED blinked yellow once then shook his head a nervous look on his face. 

"Fuck" Gavin growled, LED still stuck on red. He dislikes how his emotions are amplified.. helplessness, anger, frustration, fear, nervousness, and more he can’t fully identify. His whole body was shaking, thirium pump whirling painfully in his chest. 

He will find Nines, and then Jackson will fucking pay for this. 

Stress level: 71%  
-Reminder: Stress level should remain below 75%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter! GV is finally a deviant! 🥺💞


	7. Chapter 7

Gavin doesn’t know for how long he has been working on his terminal and quite frankly he doesn’t care. He is determined to find Nines no matter what.

No one dared to approach him while he working furiously, when at the end of the day he couldn’t find Nines he went home- Nines’ house, someone has to feed the cats.

GV made sure to keep the house clean, Nines wouldn’t be happy if it was a mess when he came back home. He didn’t try to analyze his feelings, all the pain and sorrow he felt, along with the anger, frustration, sadness, helplessness, and those only the ones he is able to identify and put a name to. His LED has been stuck on an angry red since yesterday. His stress level remained between 70-73% very close to exceeding the required amount to keep him functional.

Eyebrows furrowed as he slowly drowned in all the emotions, only way he is keeping his emotions and stress under some sort of control is by caressing the cats soft fur.

They are smart, they sensed his stress and came to ground him. "I don’t know where he is." His voice sounded strange to him, his stress level haven’t decreased, he refuse to rest till he finds some kind of clue. They have tried to interrogate the members of the gang that haven’t managed to escape, but they couldn’t get a single word out of them, which only frustrated the android further.

The next day he did most of the same routine. Sit at his terminal and do as much research as his processors allowed. His desk was flooded with files, papers, screenshots.. still no lead. GV have resorted to wearing his hood up all the time, to hide his blinking red LED.

He took a short break, overworking his processors meant he burnt thirium faster which means he needs to have more of it. Gavin leaned against the table in the break room, nursing a coffee infused with thirium. He took careful sips of it, while thinking, thinking, he can’t locate where Jackson have disappeared to.

_Hello, GV900_

Gavin jumped, he hasn’t expected that message to pop up in his HUD. He blinked, who the fuck..

_[?????] Your human seem to have missed his little obedient machine_

Nines..!!

His preconstruction have provided him with a few ways to approach this situation, and he picked to distract who he believe is on the other side of this line and locate where the messages are being sent from.

_[GV900] Where is Detective Stern?!_

_[?????] I have a few conditions before I tell you where your Detective is._

_[GV900] I’m listening.._

His stress level skyrocketed when two minutes have passed with no reply. As he was typing to ask if whoever it was, is still there, he received a message with a picture attached. He choked, body physically shook, as he was about to open the attachment.

_[CT300] 1- You free all the androids associate with me_   
_2- You do not try to find us_   
_3- Case files about our group must be destroyed._

_Then, and only then will I let your dear human Detective go._

_Do we have an agreement, GV900?_

GV’s vision was bombarded with million error messages, ones telling him to reduce his stress level, other telling him just how hot his chassis is becoming, and more about few components that have to be reloaded or he will be rebooted.  
He took a deep breaths, cooling his chassis, trying desperately to reduce his stress level, he cannot reboot now, in the middle of a negotiation.

But, before he was about to send his agreement through.

_[CT300] Ah, a deviant. I did not expect Cyberlife’s most advance android to become a deviant. That must mean that you understand us better, our purpose, the reason we killed those humans. You could help us._

GV must have accident sent some of his emotions through, he didn’t realize that was something he was able to do. He only has been a deviant for two days and half after all. He doesn’t know which emotions he have sent to Jackson through their communication link.

_[GV900] I accept your conditions. Where is my human?_

Due to the many errors he have received he wasn’t able to open the attached picture, and now he wished he hasn’t.

It was a picture of Nines tided up to a big iron post, head dipped forward, but he can see all the blood covering his clothes, staining his face and hair. Both old dried blood and one that looks very fresh, few minutes old at most. The detective’s hair is disheveled, face pale, decorated with black and blue bruises.

Rebooting...

Initiating system...  
System working.......  
RA9......  
Rebooted successfully.......

Welcome back, GV900.

>>April 24 2039.. 11:59am.

>> charge 90% (next estimated charging required 9 days, 3 hours and 20 seconds)

>> Stress level: 79%  
WARNING: REDUCE STRESS LEVEL.  
Processors: Working..

_NO.. NO NO NO NO!!!_

A glitched sob left his throat, he tossed his cup against the wall, it shattered with so much force that it left a dent on the wall.

Tina was the first to come into his glitching vision.

"Gavin! I heard a scream, what happened?" She asked quietly, hands where he can see them, and slowly reached his shoulder. Tina saw the dent and the puddle of thirium coffee on the floor and the shards of a broken mug. She pulled him a hug, rubbing his back gently. Watching GV suffer after just have turned deviant is hard.

Gavin opened his mouth endeavoring an explanation of what had happened, how he was bargaining for Nines life, about to agree to anything Jackson wanted as long as it means he will get him back, but after seeing that picture with Nines bleeding, with evidence of the android gang beating Nines up badly, it just.. it’s activated a forced reboot, losing the communication line with Jackson. But only incoherent static left his mouth. It seems that his vocal modulator is offline.

He tried again, but more and louder static came out, increasing Tina’s concern.

"I, Gavin, I can’t understand what you are saying.. I can call someone to.."

A booming static filled the room, the echo bouncing off the walls.

It startled Tina, but she did not release GV from her tight hug. "Okay, no Cyberlife"

Gavin nodded quietly, keeping his mouth shut. He furrowed his eyebrows, then a small projection appeared over his palm, he brought it to Tina’s line of sight after pulling away from the embrace.

‘Jackson contacted me’

Tina gave a small nod, indicating to GV to continue.

'He had conditions, if met he will let  
Detective Stern go.' GV hesitated, then continued. 'I agreed, then.. then my system forced a reboot and I... I lost the fucking communication line, T...."

"Oh Gavin" Tina said softly, and continued to rub his back gently, soothing him the best way she can. He never showed emotions and now it was all flooding out. It’s heartbreaking to see him that way. He has just deviated, that’s a lot of emotions to experience in the span of 2 days. Tears formed in her eyes when she hears broken, and glitching sobs. "We’ll find him, we’ll look everywhere, we will leave no stone unturned."

She gave him the time he needed to calm down, for the plaintive sobbing to stop. "Let’s go on a patrol, maybe we’ll find something."

Gavin nodded, wiping the clear solution off his cheeks.

_> >Vocal Modulator... Online_

He cleared his throat unnecessarily before speaking. "O-okay, lets go"

—————————

They have been patrolling for half an hour, driving through neighborhoods, and even old factory areas, looking for anything.

GV has successfully managed to lower his stress level just under 75%, he found out that his system glitches once his stress level exceed that percentage. A design flaw, he’s sure. The fuckers in Cyberlife did not take into account that he might deviate and experience high stress levels.

He scanned everything his eyes laid on, looking for anything that would tell them where Jackson have taken Nines to.

GV refuses to stop, so when four hours passed with nothing new, "I’ll drive you to your apartment." He said quietly, he himself is not stopping, he will look all night long if he had to. He is proud of how well he is handling his emotions, he didn’t have another emotional breakdown.. yet.

Tina gave him a concerned look, "You should too, Gav. We’ll find him, but you need to rest. Your light have been stuck on red for two days, and I don’t need to be a technician to know that that’s bad" She pleaded. She haven’t anticipated this whole thing to escalate the way it did.

Gavin gave her a nod, he will head to the Detective’s apartment but only to feed the cats, and maybe clean up a little.

Once those were done he resumed his searching, but to no avail. When it was time, he headed to the station for his regular shift.

He parked Nines’ car in his usual parking spot, but with no intention of leaving the car immediately, GV remained in the car, forehead propped on the steering wheel, eyes shut tight. He took in an unnecessary breath, and reached to grab something from backseat before making his way in.

"Gavin!" GV turned around to the voice to find Tina jogging toward him. "Hey we think we got something" once she was right in front of him, she couldn’t take her eyes off the jacket he was wearing.  
"Is that Nines’ brown leather jacket?"

Gavin played with the zipper, zipping and unzipping the jacket, "Yeah- you said you founded something?" There was urgency in his voice, but also hope. It’s been almost a week since Nines have been kidnapped and with every hour his stress level would increase. He sometimes would go into a short forced stasis, if only to cool his system down before waking up again.

"Yes!" Tina waving her tablet to emphasize, "We got a location. It’s an old Cyberlife facility that has been abandoned for years."

Gavin snatched the tablet out of the officer’s hand, skin retracting from his own hand as he downloads the location into his system. He threw it back at her before advancing toward the exit.

"Gav wait! I’m coming too!" Tina yelled after the impatient android. She knows exactly how he feels, but they need the backup incase anything went haywire.

————————

GV900 was the first to leave the car, glaring at the building before them. It was a one story facility with broken dusty windows, and crumpling brick walls. He can read one heat signature, and his heart stuttered. His human is alive, he recognized those vitals anywhere, he exhales a hot breath. His preconstrution already calculating the best approach to this situation, a mission he is familiar with flashed before him,

_> >PROTECT DETECTIVE STERN_

He cocked his gun, androids now are allowed guns, mainly ones that worked for the police forces, while his combat skills are more than competent yet he wouldn’t risk it.

Audio processors picking up noise from inside the building, it was a conversation, logically it’s mostly likely that one of the androids is talking to the detective as androids rarely ever talk orally with each other, they talk through their ‘brains’ as most humans like to refer to it.

_> >>Five androids in total_

There are two other cop cars, they are all parked a few blocks away to avoid alerting the android gang. Backup was necessary, they have no knowledge of whether the group was armed, but a logic guess would be yes, seeing as they have been causing mayhem for the past few months, including murder of several humans. GV can feel his pump swirl painfully in his sternum, array of errors were already flooding his vision, having learnt from his previous reboots. Of course reducing his stress levels isn’t easy, and with the current situation at hand, well all he can do is avoid a reboot.

"We’ll sneak through the back door, they have the least security there"

Gavin nodded to the plan, his processors were a bit busy with conducting a plan, a preconstruction that has little to no consequences. The air felt very cold around him as he and Tina treaded cautiously in the backdoor’s direction, while the other cops will surround the remaining areas including the main door, and the large windows. GV found himself leaning closer to the door, increasing his audio sensibility, he can hear Jackson talking clearly, voice carrying so much menace toward his human, and that alone is enough to make him fume. The urge to find any excuse to end the CT300 is powerful, but for now he shifted his attention back to his main mission, saving and protecting Nines.

LED RED, RED, YELLOW, RED.

He does not like the looks that Tina is sending him, it’s as if she was able to read his mind.

"I’m going in" Without waiting for any type of confirmation from Tina, he grabbed the door handle, and slowly made his way into the building. Tina is suppose to follow his lead in a minute or two, and if things goes  
according to plan, they should have the detective back within 10 minutes max.

Gavin made his way through the building, relying on his audio feed to guide him to the correct room, he can almost hear Nines’ heartbeats as he stepped closer to the door. He pushed it quietly, and stepped into what he assume is a large storing area. They were a few crates stacked at either side of the place. He hide behind one of the closer ones, and peeked into the scene before him.

Similarly to the video, Nines was tied against a long iron post, leaning toward, the only thing supporting him were the ropes he was tied by. The human looked tired and in pain, and that fact alone was enough to make the android act erratically.

"NINES!" His voice was laced with static, but the name could be easily distinguished.

Two icy blue eyes found him, there were more bruises littered on the detective’s face, the skin on his cheeks seemed broken, there was dried crusty blood trailing down his face, all in all he looked pretty bad. It seems they did a number on him, and that only added to his blistering anger.

Static growls filled the room, echoing around the spacious room. Four heads turned in his direction, and one of them was Jackson.

"Ah, it seems that your obedient toy have managed to slink his way in here. To be quite frank that should have been something we expected from ‘Cyberlife’s best’. We heard you had the best combat skills"

With all the processing powers the GV possesses he wasn’t paying attention to Jackson, all his attention was fixed on his human. Eyes studying his face, and how those fuckers have hurt him.

_> >Stress level: 85%_   
_-please reduce stress_

_> >Combat aptitude set to highest level_   
_> >Three courses of action have been conducted..._

_> >Protect Detective Stern_   
_> >Get Nines to safety_


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A gun cocking in the background grabbed his attention to what was behind him. Jackson was bleeding, thirium flowing down his face, and dripping onto the hard dusty floor with a splat. 
> 
> Gavin’s scowl deepened, HUD as red as the red wall, but nothing was restraining his actions now, no program to stop him or contain his anger. "Coward. Can’t fight me without your dumb chums or a damn gun?" He tilted his head as he stares ahead, running his preconstruction software for the best course of action to take.

The place was girdled by cops, Jackson and his gang had no where to go, now the question is, will this end with no one being scathed?

GV’s attention was fixated on Nines, anger slowly boiling within him, fist clenched tight that the skin started to retract, exposing his white chassis.

He shifted his gaze from Nines to Jackson, LED glimmered red, his own vision turning red too, calculation appearing and disappearing in the corner of his HUD. Jackson just earned himself a one way ticket to the junkyard.

Jackson whistled, acting more valiant than he actually was. "Oh this is gonna be good, I can feel your anger seething from right here, GV900"

No warning was needed, GV lunged himself toward the CT300, planning on taking his combat skills for a spin. Although Jackson sounded way too confident and full of himself, that however all disappear when he saw Gavin coming toward him with abnormal speed, even for an android.

The CT300 fell with a heavy thud. GV was growling, but his attention was split between Jackson and Nines who seems to be breathing heavily. From where Gavin was standing, his scans informed him that Nines has a few broken ribs, nasty bruises, a fractured jaw, a black eye, and a broken lip. The longer he scan his human, the more piqued he got. He then turned his attention back to the other android just in time to avoid an incoming kick. He stopped it by his forearm with no problem, with a tight grip to the leg that was meant to kick him in the face, he hurled the CT to the otherwise of the room. Clearly this plan wasn’t thought through, GV was literally built and designed for heavy combat, for war. A mere common android shouldn’t be able to leave as much as a dent in his chassis, at least not with his own hands, not without help.

Help came to the other’s aid, it seem, three other androids, all armed with a metal rod and bats were advancing toward him, their LED’s spinning yellow, unlike GV’s which was stuck on red since the detective was kidnapped.

"3 against 1? How the fuck is that fair?" Gavin hissed, but he wasn’t troubled by it, for a moment the three androids thought they had him, repeatedly battering him with their weapons, and although it caused minimal damage, he easily knocked them all down.

A gun cocking in the background grabbed his attention to what was behind him. Jackson was bleeding, thirium flowing down his face, and dripping onto the hard dusty floor with a splat.

Gavin’s scowl deepened, HUD as red as the red wall, but nothing was restraining his actions now, no program to stop him or contain his anger. "Coward. Can’t fight me without your dumb chums or a damn gun?" He tilted his head as he stares ahead, running his preconstruction software for the best course of action to take.

"I do what I can when I’m dealing with a combat android" Jackson said, targeting the head, easiest and fastest way to eliminate any android regardless of their type. It was a warning that if he tried anything his head will be blown out.

Static growls grew louder, Gavin’s fists balled tightly by his sides, his system told him that he was indeed 40% faster than the CT, _which means.._

Jackson didn’t know what hit him till he was halfway midair, a shot rang through the spacious storage unit, that is one thing his system did not anticipate quick enough.

**_Error.. ERROR.._ **

**_> > Component #324 is damaged_ **   
**_> >>10% critical damage_ **   
**_> >>>>Thirium levels decreasing by 5%_ **

CT plummeted onto the ground, gun knocked out of his hand with the impact of GV’s kick.

Jackson looked up at GV who was glaring at him with flaming anger glowing in his eyes. He felt fear for the first time that day, feeling the android detective’s hands slowly crashing his neck with how tight he was choking him. A muffled yelp from Nines have pulled him out of the red haze he’s been consumed by. LED flickered, but he released the criminal android and turned to face Nines, who was looking at him with something behind his eyes, it was enough to make GV step away from the CT, and walk toward his human, thirium pump swirling excitedly at the sight of his human alive, he have been dreading what he will find if he arrived here too late, but his human was alive, beaten up, but alive, besides the few broken ribs- and well when he was close he can see that Nines’ right wrist was broken as well. Anger still boiled within him, but taking care of his human is his priority.

Removing the dirty bloody rag that was used to gag Nines. It seems his system wasn’t quick enough to calculate this probability- his system usually glitches when he’s exposed to a high level of stress. His creators did not take into account the slightest possibility of him deviating nor of him experiencing a high level of stress it appears. Nines’ eyes went wide..

"GAVIN"

The warming came a couple seconds too late.

Just as Gavin turned toward the unmistakable gun cocking again, it was too late. He saw blue spatter through the air, remember feeling pain somewhere- and million more errors flooding his vision.

**_ >> Component #0400 damaged  
_** **_ >>> Thirium levels decreased by 15%  
_ ** **_ >>>> 20% critical damage _ **

**_ >>Report to the nearest Cyberlife facility for urgent repairs _ **

He was still an advanced android, he pushed himself off the floor. _When did he fell to his knees?_ Clearing up error messages from his vision. Swiping them off, he will deal with them later.

Detaining Jackson has been a cinch, the only threat he possessed was the gun, that now laid in pieces on the floor, along with Jackson- no he was not in pieces, but simply probed into a forced stasis, one he can’t wake up from without a technician or a Cyberlife employee.

He could hear Nines curse under his heavy breath, he looked up at Gavin, his eyes immediately zeroed onto the dripping blood. There was so much blue, it’s frightening, it has be at least a quarter percent of what GV has in his body.

"Gavin..!" Nines called again, GV never seen the detective show so much emotions, some he can’t iput a name to, but the ones that are prominent are concern, tiredness, and more fear. "Shit. Gavin, are you alright?" A stupid thing to ask really, while the detective was tied up, and beaten for days with broken ribs and wrist. In short he looked like shit.

"You look like shit" Gavin tried to sound smug, emotions hitting him hard when he came closer to where Nines was pounded. A blotch of dried blood on the floor, most likely from being beaten up a day or two ago. GV quickly broke the ropes and climbed onto Nines’ lap, wrapping his arms tightly around him, as he hides his tears in the crook of his neck. He wasn’t human, he didn’t need to take shaky breaths, yet he did.

A hand rubbed soothingly up and down his back, calming him down.

They remained like that for some time, till Gavin stepped away from the human, hoping he did not cause him any pain.

"I’m taking you to the hospital, and you won’t as much as _breath a complaint_."  
He scoffed as he support Nines, he would call an ambulance, but the hospital is only a few minutes away, he would rather drive Nines there himself.

Nines was shaking, at first GV believed he was cold, or in pain, but he relaxed when he heard the laughter bubble out of the human’s throat. "You sound exactly as I expected you to after deviating."

Gavin rolled his eyes, making an act of seeming disgruntled, "I should probably get you to a hospital as fast as possible, they must have beaten the shit out of you, if you’re acting and talking like that."

"Maybe.. but I’ve been waiting for you" He felt Nines lean against him heavily, as he helps him into the car. The detective snoozed a few times on the way, Gavin didn’t have the heart to wake him up, so he let him rest.

* * *

  
The doctors have confirmed most of what his system have already informed him, Nines had a few broken ribs, a shitload of bruises and a broken wrist, he lost some blood but otherwise he was fine. Fowler has given at least a week off- they intended to give him more but the stubborn bastard made a fuss of not needing them. So a week is what the detective scowled at but did not try and protest, not with the way GV was glaring at him.

They made it home a couple of hours later, Nines’ wrist was put in a cast, with the advise to avoid moving or using it, and given Gavin a long list of things he should do, and medicine he should take.

Nines currently sat on his couch, bandaged and cast on, he tried to seem grumpy but Gavin knows that the detective is glad to finally be home.

Of course Gavin’s own wounds were mended. Human hospitals now have a separate department for android, for urgent cases, of course they still could get fixed in any Cyberlife facility but most androids prefer hospitals, they seem more.. cozy? Would that be the right word to use? It certainly is better than the plain blinding white rooms Cyberlife has, and hospitals have beds, and chairs for visitors, while Cyberlife has that assembly rig, the one they used to hook android up for repairs.

Nines seems a little stupor, it does not worry Gavin, they gave him some painkillers to help with the pain from his ribs and wrist. Lexi was perched on the detective’s lap, happy to have her human back. Perla on was currently in his arms, letting him stroke her soft fluffy fur, while she purrs loudly.

"It’s time for you to head to bed, detective. Fowler have contacted me, you have a week off and I quote" he hummed, letting his voice change to mimic their captain’s.

" _Stern better not show his face for a whole damn week else he’s suspended for two_ "

The detective made a face but he looked more amused than angry. "Did you have to do that?"

"It’s more fun than simply telling you what he said." Gavin allowed the detective to lean on him while he helped him move from the couch to the bed. Gavin was also given a week off, mostly to look after Nines and make sure the workaholic detective did not try to work while he should be resting.

With the detective’s steady snoring, GV wrote a quick report, summing up what happened with CT300 and his gang, and when it was ready, he sent it to their captain, now he is officially on ‘vacation’ for a week.. actually this his first ever vacation- _his almost vacation_ \- he never had more than two days off at a time, usually he only gets one day off a week, sometimes two, but never a whole week or more. That would mean he would get more time to spend with his human, he looked up from where he was sitting on the chair in the human’s bedroom, and watch as his chest rises and falls in a steady pattern. He can finally go into stasis. He set a timer for 15 hours, but he will receive a notification if Nines stirred or woke up.

* * *

  
_> >April 26th, 9:09AM, Tuesday._

His system informed, as he rose from his stasis. He slept for over 15 hours, it seems he needed more charging time than he initially anticipated. He blinked, visual processors slowly adjusting to the lighting.

Nines was leaning against the headboard with a tablet in his hand, scrolling lazily with his left hand, he seems calm, bandages scattered across his face, the black eye can be seen from a mile away.

"Morning detective"

Nines didn’t as much as flinch, he was not surprised by Gavin waking up then.

"Good morning, Gavin." He lifted his gaze from the tablet and to Gavin, finger hovering over what seems to be the report the GV have sent yesterday. There is a slight furrow to his eyebrow, as his eyes regard the page. A moment passed before he settle the tablet to the side, but did not mentioned the report as Gavin have thought he would.

"You shouldn’t be moving a lot, the doctor advised against it" in an instant, GV was by Nines’ side, to which the human simply huffed and gave a hard look.

"I thought you weren’t a nanny bot?"

Banter. Nines was definitely feeling better if he’s already teasing. The image of Nines bloody and beaten up is gonna take a while for him to forget, it feels very fresh still in his brain- with an advance computer brain like his, it’s gonna take a great effort to.

"You broke my programming, so yeah sure. I’ll be your damn nanny bot if you stayed in bed and took your medication in time."

Nines was clearly not happy about that response and Gavin’s guess to the reason is that he doesn’t like to stay idle, that observation proved itself many times while they were working together. Nines often left his desk to pace around it, while holding his tablet or case files while he mused over whatever was stumping him, or when he was in a crime scene where he’d walk up and down the place as if guarding it and not scavenging for evidence.

Nines simply sighed, showing how displeased he is, but returned to sit on his bed, armed crossed, clearly glowering about the new arrangement. He assumed before Gavin was his partner, Nines simply showed up work even after being hospitalized for a day or two- yes he knows those are solid facts because Tina have told him so herself. Tina have told him so many stories of Nines, she knew he enjoyed them and he wasn’t gonna stop her anyway.

"I was given a week off" Nines started, it was something he despised getting, getting days off meant spending them at home not working, which always left him a bit twitchy, he sometimes read a book, or played the old piano he has in the living room (the one that’s covered in dusty because he haven’t had the time to use it in a while), or clean up the place, but it still meant to work which he did not like. However, since being partnered with Gavin he‘s found joy in staying home again, even if it was mundane to do things such as watching a movie or perhaps playing a board game that Gavin can learn in exactly 0.02 seconds, or even watch the android being fascinated by the exact same lava lamp for the tenth time that day. Work is not the only thing that brings him joy now- yes yes he knows he is a workaholic, that work have been used to describe him about a million times, it wouldn’t surprise him if it was included in his personal folder as well.

"Yeah they gave me one too, can’t believe I’ll be spending it with a healing dickhead like you" Nines snapped his head toward Gavin, for a moment he believed him, then he saw the big grin plastered onto GV’s face.

"Still a comedian, I see. And here I thought deviancy would help with your awful manners"

A middle finger is the response that he received did that one.

Nines hummed, eyes still fixed on Gavin which made him feel uneasy, with those icy blue eyes staring at him like that, like they could analyze every code he has, every wire in his body.

His thirium pump was doing the thing again- where it whirred very loudly in his sternum. Before deviance he might have something similar, however now it’s just.. well it’s more enhanced.


End file.
